Strength behind you:

a force to propel you.

The operating environment is getting harder, and the investment needed to grow is getting greater.

We partner with ambitious advice and accounting businesses that want to be part of something bigger: combining their client relationships, expertise and entrepreneurial spirit with the capital and capability of the wider Group.

Together, we can build stronger businesses, create new opportunities for people and deliver better outcomes for clients.

A merger with a like-minded business: Bring complementary businesses together to create greater scale, broader capability and new opportunities.

A strategic partnership: Work with us to accelerate growth, strengthen the business and plan confidently for the future.

An outright sale: Transition with confidence, knowing your clients, people and legacy will be supported for the long term.

The stats

0 +

advisors, accountants and brokers, Australia-wide

0 +

M&A transactions since inception

$ 0 B

assets under advice

What you gain

Growth

Capital, transaction expertise and hands-on support to help businesses grow, combine and pursue new opportunities. We give leaders greater capacity to act on opportunities when they arise.

Succession

Flexible pathways that help founders plan for succession while creating opportunities for future leaders. We support continuity for the business, its people and clients over the long term.

Capability

Shared technology, systems, data and specialist expertise designed to make businesses more efficient and scalable. We shift complexity away from firms so teams can spend more time with clients and growing the business.

People

Programs, pathways and support that help develop capable leaders and create better careers across the Group. We give people more opportunities to step up, progress and build their future within the business.

Community

A connected community that generously shares knowledge, experience and ideas. So businesses can draw on the collective expertise rather than solving every challenge alone.

The right fit

We’re looking for businesses with capable, client-obsessed people, trusted client relationships and strong long-term growth potential.

Our ideal partners are ambitious and entrepreneurial, but open to more connected ways of working. They want to build something bigger, create opportunities for future leaders and contribute to a community that shares knowledge and expertise.

If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.

Hear from our partner firms

Nigel Plowman

AZ NGA is highly commercial and easy to work with. They are open to every idea that makes sense and nothing is too much trouble.

We’ve always been firm believers of organic growth but we wanted to supplement that with M&A on an opportunistic basis.

Nigel Plowman’s chance encounter with the principal of an accounting firm owned by AZ NGA led to a meeting with AZ NGA Chief Executive Officer Paul Barrett.

Over the next six months, Plowman and AZ NGA held numerous talks, resulting in AZ NGA’s 2018 acquisition of Plowman’s accounting and advisory firm, McKinley Plowman.

“I wasn’t looking to retire any time soon but my partners and I needed capital funding for growth and a solution to help key staff buy into the business,” Plowman said.

Since joining AZ NGA, McKinley Plowman has completed four additional acquisitions with another in the pipeline. Two staff members have participated in AZ NGA’s Future Leaders’ program and gone on to become equity owners.

Hear from our partner firms

Tim Brown

Warnnambool’s wannabe accountant turned AZ NGA future leader

Accounting and finance graduate, Tim Brown started his career with Commonwealth Financial Planning in 2012. By 2019, when the bank turned off ongoing service fees and terminated ongoing service arrangements, he had built a loyal, sizable clientbase. The decision left him at a loose end.

Brown eventually joined Easton in 2020. A year later, Easton and business partner Lisa McPherson merged their business with Harvest Wealth, also part of the AZ NGA network.

Harvest Wealth backed Brown’s candidacy to AZ NGA’s Future Leader’s program, which aims to recognise, retain, and reward the next generation of business owners.

“Right now, I’m an employed planner but my goal is to transition to business owner in the next 12-24 months,” Brown says.

“When it comes to providing financial advice, my technical skills are excellent, but I need business acumen too in order to become a more rounded professional.”

“For young people who are enthusiastic about financial advice and want to be a leader in this emerging profession, AZ NGA provides a clear pathway and the support you need to get to where you want to go.”

Hear from our partner firms

Brett Schatto

Brett Schatto, Founder and CEO of Pride Advice, was only 44 years old when AZ NGA approached him in 2014 about an equity partnership

At the time, succession was the furthest thing from his mind.

In May 2015, Pride Advice became the second business to join AZ NGA. So far on the journey, Pride Advice has completed two acquisitions and almost tripled its revenue.

“Like it or not, advice is now a profession and business owners need the skills to run a professional services business. If they don’t have them, then they need to partner with a strong, experienced organisation to assist them,” Schatto says.

Hear from our partner firms

Michael Furness

Michael describes his personality as ‘’engaging’’ and his management style as “conservative”.

As the General Manager of Farrow Hughes Mulcahy (FHM), a financial advisory firm that manages the wealth of retirees and pre-retirees, being conservative is a good thing but he still wants to be challenged and stretched.

The firm’s strategic partnership with AZ NGA guarantees that.

From their first interaction, AZ NGA has continuously challenged Furness and the group’s founding partners, Michael Farrow, Craig Hughes and Daniel Mulcahy, to think big and act decisively to secure their future.

“We’re constantly challenged to increase our capability and capacity. We’ve been presented with a number of potential acquisitions and AZ NGA is able to arrange capital funding but our default position is, we’re successful, we’ve built in a level of comfort and our team culture drives us so any change has got to be compelling,” Furness says.

“We like being asked the question. We know we will be supported no matter which way we go.”

Hear from our partner firms

Lisa McPherson

“With a large network of businesses all going through the same challenges, we don’t have to go through things alone. AZ NGA has insights and ready-made solutions.”

“I feel great about the future because the industry is changing for the better, my business partners and I are all on the same page, and we’re backed by AZ NGA.”

The majority of small-to-medium enterprises (SME) will never acquire or merge with another company. At most, business owners may be involved in one transaction in their lifetime.

In the space of five years, Lisa McPherson has participated in a string of acquisitions, mergers and demergers to finally arrive at a place she describes as “golden”.

“I feel great about the future because the industry is changing for the better, my business partners and I are all on the same page, and we’re backed by AZ NGA to achieve everything we want to achieve,” she said.

“With AZ NGA, if you have an idea or you want to do something, they’ll help you make it happen, provided it makes commercial sense.”

Hear from our partner firms

Matt Tuohey

We needed another voice at the table so things could get done.

We needed someone with experience dealing with complex shareholder relationships to help us work through our issues and bring about a resolution.

As an equal partner in a financial planning business, Matt Tuohey realised he needed to separate from his former business partner to achieve his career aspirations.

After a decade together, the duo found their views on how to take the business forward differing but both parties needed to agree on plans to progress. That consensus was rare, requiring a circuit breaker.

Relief came in the form of AZ NGA, which acquired Harvest Wealth in November 2015.

AZ NGA facilitated the smooth succession of Matt’s former business partner and a merger with another business in the AZ NGA network.

Today Matt and his business partners share a common vision and approach to delivering excellent advice and building a business of significant capital value.

Our organisation

afs

ags

aspire

Blackwood

b2b

blueprint

Catalina

certe

coastline

cranage

dunsford

ejm

eureka

farrow hughes

financial LP

financial decisions

fwa

ga

gfg

intend

miq

nestworth

oreon

pfg

precept

psk

hurwitz

kellaway

lifestyle

matthew

mp+

mtp

ontrack

ottavo

people+partners

pride

priority advisory group

RI advice

Rose partners

scm

sterling

strat one

sfp

tempus

treysta

the wealth designers

varria

vbp

wealthmed

yarra lane

What

people say about us...

The framework for growth

The transaction enabled me to take some cash off the table but the real value has been in the framework for growth and success, including quarterly board meetings and deep relationships with other business owners and CEOs.

Brett Schatto
CEO, Pride Advice, Adelaide

An exciting & certain future

I can finally focus on my career without having to worry about borrowing millions to buy someone out.

Tim Easton
Financial Adviser & Partner, Harvest Wealth, Geelong

Experience, scale and collaboration

AZ NGA has supported our future leaders to become business owners, accelerating the timeframe for this to happen.

Nigel Plowman
CEO, McKinley Plowman, Perth

Solved our succession issues

AZ NGA solved our succession issues and brought much-needed certainty and opportunity to staff and shareholders. It has injected new life and energy into the business.

Michael Furness
General Manager, Farrow Hughes Mulcahy

Clear pathway and support

For young people who are passionate about financial advice and want to be a leader in this emerging profession, AZ NGA provides a clear pathway and the support you need to get to where you want to go.

Tim Brown
Financial Adviser, Blackwood Advisory, Geelong

Support to make things happen

AZ NGA have supported us through acquisitions, mergers, demergers and restructures. They helped us reach resolutions which could have dragged on without their involvement.

Lisa McPherson
Partner and Adviser, Blackwood Advisory, SHEPPARTON

United in vision, values & purpose

With support from AZ NGA for the first time in many years, I have fresh air and a mandate to pursue growth on my terms.

Matt Tuohey
Partner and Adviser, Blackwood Advisory, Mildura

Pipedream to reality in 18 months

Buying into a financial planning business, even a small one, is expensive. AZ NGA was able to assist and support me to achieve my goal of becoming a business partner.

Tyson Heinrich
Partner and Adviser, Financial Lifestyle Partners, Melbourne